A couple of belated enhancements based on Suggestions Forum threads from earlier this month. The new Gatling Turret is only available in a couple of sectors. That may be controversial, but it's easy enough to expand availability later.

We have a lot more major development going on in the background, which should come to light before long. In addition, we're in the midst of completing a pretty major network migration for our office, which we've managed to make largely invisible to the game itself (does not change the servers), but does have a huge impact on our development. So, getting through that migration has been pretty important, although also time consuming.

Thanks everyone. We hope you'll stop by on Sunday for the Nation War event! Take care.

- One set of asteroids (tan, shattered rocks) have been updated on the PC to a new "high definition" standard, with greatly increased polygon counts.
- Fixed dynamic lights and shadow shaders for OpenGL 4 on Mac and Linux.
- Fixed issue with DirectX 11 driver sometimes not restoring the correct screen size when alt-tabbing while in full-screen mode.

We've been very busy this past week, with a large amount of unexpected infrastructural and server work, as one of our ISPs is going through some transitions. This cut into development time for this build, but we hope you enjoy the changes we were able to ship. Hopefully some cooler content next week.

A slightly belated announcement on this version, as I was out of town last week at the Game Developer's Conference.

Most of this version continues our process of cleaning up and debugging the new GL4 and DX11 shaders and related code. We still have some more fixes to drop in, further fixing some Linux renderer problems that have appeared recently, but those will have to wait until next week.

Big announcements are coming soon, describing more specifics for our plans for 2015. In the meantime, you'll also see some newer "HD" assets appearing on the PC version, and other tweaks intended to polish things up prior to the Steam launch. Further enhancements to our VR support are also planned (Oculus, Leap Motion, etc).

- Fixed issue with not being able to type in chat while jumping and warping.
- When alt-tabbing out in full screen DirectX 11 mode, alt-tabbing back will return to full screen mode.
- The wireframe radar extender effect is now visible in DirectX 11 and OpenGL 4.
- The Windows executable binaries are now signed with a certificate.
- The DirectX 11 version now uses a different shadow technique (Poisson PCF with slope-based depth bias), also implemented across all OpenGL 4 versions.
- Very experimental, optional OpenGL 4 driver added to MacOS X. Switching drivers is a little strange, and a full game re-start may be needed to avoid graphics corruption. We're still working on it, this is an optional early-access, use at your own risk.
- Fixed the capship shield effect not rendering properly.
- The glow effect should now work on the experimental OpenGL 4 driver.
- A plugins/ folder is now automatically created on first run for the Android version.
- Changed the default active button for the EULA menu.
- The 'Play' button is now automatically made the active button when changing characters.
- When a menu is closed and it doesn't have active focus, the current active focus control no longer gets unfocused.
- Fixed a couple of lua errors.

Obviously a lot of changes being made in the past week, as 1.8.326 dropped on Monday, followed by 1.8.327 on Friday. The biggest news here is probably the experimental GL4 driver for the Mac, which will finally bring our new rendering engine across all our major PC platforms (Windows/Mac/Linux).

There are still other changes coming to the new rendering engine, before it will be considered "production ready" and actually become the default on supporting hardware. But, we are making good progress, and in the meantime, we greatly appreciate people testing things and reporting any issues via the Bugs forum. The more feedback we get, the more solid the new graphics engine will be.

Many other fixes and tweaks in the works, with much more significant gameplay changes intended to follow this period of graphical/engine work. Stay tuned!

- Improved experience of using the UI with a gamepad on Android.
- Fixed flickering button in touch-hover mode on Android.
- The /givemoney command is no longer case sensitive.
- Successful /vote mutes now last for two hours.

Beyond our release from Sunday night, this actually fixes several additional problems that faced players trying to use a D-pad type gamepad to navigate the game interface. We've improved a lot of the scenarios to make D-pad navigation much easier. There are still some areas that could made better still, but we think those with gamepads will find this helpful. It should be particularly beneficial for those on the FireTV, the NVIDIA Shield, OUYA, GameStick, Moga Pro, upcoming AndroidTV, and other similar hardware.

Improved controller support also has long-term benefits for use cases like VR (Vendetta Online being one of the first titles to officially support the Oculus Rift, back in 2013). Playing the game on a mouse and keyboard can be optimal, but tracking key-positions while "blind" (wearing a VR headset) is challenging for a lot of people. To them, it's more accessible to play with a game controller, and a small number of tactile controls that can be trivially identified without looking.

- Increased usability of gamepads to navigate through the UI using mostly just the D-Pad and A button. The D-Pad now performs a key repeat for quicker scrolling.
- D-Pad Left/Right no longer scrolls up/down. Instead they switch to the previous/next control.
- Changed the default mouse-over/focus highlighting of buttons and tabs to be more noticeable.
- Reduced the number of votes to mute someone to 10 votes.
- Increased sound falloff of new ship and swarm explosions.
- Added a reminder that chat channel 1 is only for Help questions and to /join 100 for main chat after every fifth time you chat in channel 1.
- Experimentally tweaked Crystal acquisition rates, for upcoming improvements to level caps and other F2P barriers.

A whole array of minor gameplay tweaks, intended to improve the game in a number of cases, including Controller Improvements enhance playability on the Amazon FireTV, OUYA, GameStick, and other "10 foot experience" platforms (ie, where you're 10 feet from a TV and only have a game controller). This will also improve upcoming AndroidTV support, as well as gamepad-centric experiences like the Moga Pro and NVIDIA Shield.

Beyond this, administrative tweaks to help us manage our growing userbase, as well as some tweaks to Crystal balance. We've been very busy for the last couple of months on rendering updates, you can expect a lot of small changes and adjustments to the free-to-play business model, as we approach our major iOS update (again, those who want to be a part of testing for ios, should check out vendetta-online.com/ios).

That's all for now, expect more graphics updates, and other tweaks, in the coming week!

Only three lines in the update log, but a lot more happening behind the scenes, and changes "under the hood", so to speak. We've done a lot more engine development and tweaking over the past week, but nothing that's ready for exposure in the game yet. Assets and visual effects are being updated, etc.

Beyond that, we also have some time-sensitive development going on, relating to necessary updates of certain platforms, as well as support for emerging systems like AndroidTV. Support for AndroidTV may not be that exciting to everyone, but it has taken very little time for us to support (as we already helped launch the FireTV, OUYA, and similar devices), and opens up the prospect of playing Vendetta Online natively on your next-gen SmartTV from Sony, Sharp and other manufacturers. Set-top boxes like the Nexus Player are not the intriguing long-game for us, but rather integration of the AndroidTV experience into millions of SmartTVs. That has the potential to be a market share worth pursuing.

We expect more graphics updates next week, but we'll try and make some game changes as well if we possibly can. We have a whole backlog of changes that I've been promising on Suggestions.

VO 1.8.322 includes:
- Added prototype shadows to Linux OpenGL 4 driver. This implementation differs from the DirectX 11 version in that it uses a Percentage Closer Filter with a Poisson distribution to anti-alias the shadows.
- Added dynamic light sources to more "neon-style" signs, visible in the prototype DX11 or OpenGL drivers.
- Decreased the font size of the account conversion menu for mobile devices.

Getting closer to wrapping up our work on the renderer, we should hopefully have just a bit more related work, and then be done for awhile.

Shadows are kind of an interesting set of challenges, as each algorithm comes with its own set of visual problems (artifacts) that need to be mitigated. We're using 4X anti-aliased variance shadow maps (VSM) on DX11, as we appreciated the smooth shadow edges we get from anti-aliasing, but we don't love its inherent problems with thin-object shadows "fading in" near their origin.

Thus, on OpenGL (for Linux, not yet for Mac) we're testing an implementation of traditional Percentage Closer Filter (PCF) shadow maps using a poisson disc to smooth the edges. This has the added benefit that it can be implemented on mobile by packing floats into RGBA, where this is not really possible (or is at least highly problematic) with a numerically-unstable variance algorithm. It may also be a little faster on older hardware (and uses less memory); but really, shadows have not been a big speed hit for us, compared to dynamic lighting and other factors. Unfortunately, PCFs also come with their own set of visual problems/artifacts, issues like shadow acne, a kind of flickering of maps appearing on certain surfaces, that have to be optimized with specific bias settings. There are particular challenges with rounded rotating asteroids. But on average it looks pretty good (which can be said about either algorithm).

In both cases, the maps are placed on a single texture atlas for all four cascade levels. Cascades being shadow maps rendered to cover various distance-ranges, so you get high resolution close to you, but lower resolution off in the distance. Because of our huge view distance (20km or more), we're probably going to need another set of cascades to achieve the desired "final" fidelity on PC, but it's not bad as it is.

So far, these algorithms have all been implemented for relatively fixed, "directional light" shadows coming from the primary lightsource (the nearest star/sun), but we intend to also add another couple of cases. Omni/spot lights under some situations (short distance shadows that don't travel far, cast by ship engines, for instance) will add a lot of nice effect with movement; a capship flying near a station or asteroids, for instance. Similarly, a special shadow map on your own ship (for 3rd-person views) will add a lot higher fidelity to self-shadowing than what we can achieve using the cascades-covering-20km.

It's very common for game engines to use several different types of shadows for different environments and effects. Variance shadow maps can be easily blurred in hardware, for instance, where PCF shadow maps cannot. Thus, if we want to create heavily softened maps for omni lights in a fogged sector, for instance, that might lend itself to VSMs. Or, even with all directional and omni lights in unfogged scenes using anti-aliased VSMs, we might still use a PCF for self-shadowing your ship, so that all small details are sharply shadowed and defined (even when the shadow-caster is relatively small or thin, like a winglet or turret).

As always, game development is a series of calculated tradeoffs to try and achieve a desired effect. There are few ideal solutions, mostly it's based on what works best for the specific kind of game, content, environment, desired experience, etc. This is one of the reasons we've been happy to have our own in-house engine. While we may spend time on this kind of R&D, where shadows might simply be a "check box" on an available middleware engine, we're doing the best implementation for our specific situation. Most engines are built for first-person shooters and/or lightweight "casual" games, not for open-world space MMOs with galactically-gigantic universes. Even at triple-A studios who are actually making first-person-shooters (many friends of ours), they often end up spending practically the same amount of time heavily-modifying and "hacking" the middleware engine to do what they want, a sometimes-ironic set of tradeoffs.

Of course, back when we started in the mid/late 90s, there practically were no middleware engines anyway, let alone the free ones of today (the quake1-test debuted about the time we were building network code, and by the time Unreal shipped, VO was recognizably playable). But even so, being able to implement our own optimal solution to our specific set of challenges has always been a strength, and the game is better for it.

- Added dynamic light sources to many of the "neon-style" floating signs, visible in the prototype DX11 or OpenGL drivers.
- New sound effects: Avalon Torpedo impact/explosions, queen and capship explosions, and special Heavy Assault Cruiser explosion effects.
- Preliminary dynamic lights have been added to the docking and launch bays.
- Fixed the glow effect so it isn't so over-bright.
- Shadowmap cascade levels are consolidated into 1 texture atlas
instead of 4 separate textures.
- Tweaked the shadow cascade transition to be more subtle.
- Tweaked render state changes in the DirectX 11 driver.
- Ice asteroids and solar panels now receive shadows.

Improvements continue to the rendering engine, and the assets to help enable them. Plus, some new sound effects, and you can expect more to appear as well.

It's hard to convey the impact of lighting our signs dynamically, and having them influence their surroundings; it adds a tremendous sense of "presence" to the environment. Our "floating neon" signs flicker on and off, and change colors as they always have, but now they illuminate nearby objects and ships as well. This may seem like a subtle change, and it is, but I'm really enjoying the overall effect:

- Fixed long blank screen pause when switching video drivers.
- Fixed performance issue for DirectX 11 driver when not rendering the station behind the station interface.
- Improved and tweaked shadow settings for DirectX 11 driver. Shadows are now anti-aliased and the darkness of shadows has been decreased further.

For those who are interested, and can't yet see the new DX11 changes, I've made a little before-and-after demo screenshot of the current state of the engine. Please bear in mind that this is a very preliminary screenshot, and not indicative of anything remotely final.

In fact, we're still deep in development on the DX11/OpenGL 4 renderer. There are some particular challenges that we face as an open-world game set in space, with sectors of unlimited scale. Shadows maps, for instance, have a set resolution and need to cover the entire viewable terrain. For most games, even some recent "open world" shooters, that's still relatively modest compared to even our (current) view distance. Since 2002, we've had a 20 kilometer far-Z, which (for reference) would let any current player's view encompass about 3x the entire gameworld of Skyrim. This adds challenges to stretching shadow maps over such a large area, while making them "look good" up close, and not using a tremendous amount memory.

On top of that, we're looking to drastically increase our visible Z range (due to extremely large capship-stations and other objects coming in future versions), perhaps to "near-infinitely" through the use of multiple Z ranges along with imposter rendering. All of this makes for a lot of R&D and testing, to find something that works "best" for our particular usage.

Usage is key, as each effect implementation, and rendering architecture choice, has its own set of tradeoffs. Different algorithms come with particular artifacts, and a lot of this kind of research is figuring out what looks the "best", while also giving you the desired flexibility, framerate and overhead that you require.. and that's going to vary, game-to-game. We're a space title, so "soft" shadows aren't really our thing, except as a special case (ion storms, mining-debris fog), as we generally don't have the kind of environmental atmospherics that provide this sort of "soft" diffusion. So we're currently testing some effective sharp-edged (anti-aliased) solutions that scale well over long distance.

But what's most important is how the effects will be used. Eye candy is nice enough, but it really needs to justify its existence (and impact on framerate) through value in storytelling, and in the immersive experience. It's these environments that I find the most exciting, the most inspiring of game design. Situations that might fill a player with genuine fear, or awe. Images that might let us each tell how we've "seen things you people wouldn't believe.."

In honor of the occasion, we have a few things to announce, including a newsletter update, and some graphical improvements in the latest versions (Shadows in DX11!).

Additionally, we also are in our standard Holiday Promo, welcoming back any player who has previously had a Premium-level subscription to the game (more than 60 days ago), they may play for free between December 25th and January 1st! We hope we see a lot of older veteran players popping by to say hi!

VO 1.8.317-318 included:

- Very "beta" prototype implementation of Shadows, for DirectX 11 only (OpenGL will require some changes and will come later). Contains numerous known artifacts, bugs and things that need tweaking. Made available as a demo-prototype only, to let people see something we have cooking.

To disable shadows if the framerate is too low, type "/set rdoshadows 0" (without quotes) in the console or chat.

For those interested in rendering tech, this is a test using cascaded variance shadow maps, and is not necessarily the final algorithm we may choose (and even if we did choose to use this, there would be many tweaks and fixes). We're in an R&D phase on much of this rendering technology.

- Fixed buffer overrun in prototype OpenGL driver for Linux.
- Added reminder to mobile version to convert the one-click account so character progression isn't lost.
- Added a periodic request to rate the mobile version of Vendetta Online.

We're hard at work on another round of graphical improvements, trying to finish these up around the end of the year. It was hoped that some more changes would be debuting in this release, but they were not stable enough as of yet. Next week is more likely.

In the meantime, please continue to post any problems you find in using the "OpenGL 4" GKGL driver, and we'll continue debugging them on our end. It isn't trivial to resolve some of these issues; it can be nearly impossible when the failure is actually somewhere deep in the driver, but we'll do our best to find workarounds if we can.

- New prototype OpenGL driver has been added to Linux. To try it out, go to Options -> Video -> Change driver... and select 'OpenGL 4 GKGL driver'. Multiple dynamic lights are enabled with this driver if your GPU supports the GL_ARB_ES2_compatibility extension. Dynamic lights include weapon fire, rocket/missile/ship exhaust, and explosions.
- Strikeforce are now launched when you have Temp-KOS against Corvus and you enter Corvus monitored space.
- Auto-aim can only be toggled up to twice per second.
- Fixed a bug where Capture-the-Cargo ended twice at the same time.
- Fixed rendering issues when changing Scaling mode on certain Android devices.
- Optimized nearby dynamic-light finding algorithm.
- Added optimization to consolidate multiple nearby lights.

This new version continues the recent graphics improvements, now with a prototype renderer for Linux players. We expect there to be problems and artifacts on certain drivers, so please report any issues in detail on the Bugs forum (a thread has already been started). Linux drivers are unfortunately not quite as gaming-robust as Windows, simply because the chip manufacturers making the original drivers tend to put more time into the platforms with the largest gaming market share. The teams of volunteers working on the open-source drivers do a great job, but often have fewer developer resources than the huge teams placed on Windows and console platforms. Thus, we could really use everyone's help to track down and work around any bugs we discover under Linux OpenGL, to try and make the experience as stable as possible.

Although the new driver is called "OpenGL 4", it does not necessarily require openGL 4.x native support. It does require the GL_ARB_ES2_compatibility extension, which for some chips is available even though the rest of the driver only supports OpenGL 2.x or 3.x (Intel integrated laptop GPUs, for instance). The GL_ARB_ES2_compatibility extension became required in OpenGL 4.1, but is also supported by many GPUs that do not actually support 4.x.

As a final reminder, if you're interested in testing Vendetta Online for iOS, please sign up here! We are only taking a limited number of people, so sign up as soon as possible!

The new Trident weapons should open the door for some exciting new combat usage of these fine player-own capital ships. This was a gameplay change specifically requested by the player base, and I'm glad we could make it happen.

Additionally, the DirectX 11 dynamic lighting shaders are about 20-25% faster, which should be helpful on slower DX 10 hardware, like integrated laptop GPUs. We expect to optimize this further, but we need to see do some more profiling and analysis. We had hoped to also include OpenGL support for dynamic lighting in this release, but it will have to wait until the next one.

Support for x86 (Intel) based Android devices is a fairly significant change for us. X86-based Android phones and tablets represent a growing market share that we want to support. One of these is the new Nexus Player device, which lets you play games (like ours) on your TV, using a special subset of the platform called "AndroidTV". Our game now supports this, but it may still be a little while before the title actually appears on AndroidTV devices, as it requires specific testing and approval from Google.

That's all for now everyone. Have a great week, and weekend, and for those of you in the US, a Happy Thanksgiving!

- Mine explosions no longer do double-damage to the person laying them.
- Weapon shot visual-effects are less likely to pass through objects.
- Re-arming free equipment during Deneb War military missions now includes text to say the purchases are free.
- Touch-screen HUD graphics slightly improved, to indicate the left input area is a region, as opposed to buttons.
- Initial single-player tutorial now uses the TPG Raptor instead of the EC-89.

Also: iPad owners, if you're interested in helping test the next iOS version of Vendetta Online, then sign up here. This initial build is iPad-only, but future versions will include support for the iPhone and iPod Touch (devices with iOS 7 or better required). The beta testing pool is limited, so sign up now!

In other news, we're continuing to develop and optimize the next-generation graphics engine. We managed to get another 25% performance boost out of a new version of the dynamic lighting shader; we have not yet released this shader update, as we're continuing to work on enhancing framerates.

Gameplay changes are also coming up, but the rendering engine work needs to be "done" all at once, so we're pushing to get that out of the way.